136 Merriam Unrecognized Jack Rabbits. 



(2) Lepus richardsoni Bachman, 1839. A form resembling 

 calif ornicus, but slightly smaller and much paler in color, lack 

 ing the reddish suffusion, the general tone of the upperparts 

 being buffy grayish instead of reddish brown. This form in 

 habits Salinas Valley and bordering ranges on both sides, fol 

 lows the mountains around the south end of the Joaquin Valley, 

 and passes north in the foothills of the Sierra to about the 

 latitude of San Francisco. The type locality may be fixed in 

 Salinas Valley or the mountains close by on the west, probably 

 not far from Jolon. It was described by Bachman in 1839, but 

 was regarded by Waterhouse as the same as calif omicus, and for 

 more than fifty years has been so considered. 



(3) An exceedingly pallid form, inhabiting the hot south end 

 of the San Joaquin Valley. This form seems to have escaped a 

 name, and is here described as Lepus tularensis. 



The type specimens of both L. calif ornicus and L. richardsoni 

 were collected by the botanist David Douglas in 1831, presum 

 ably on his overland journey from Monterey to Santa Barbara. 

 In fact, Gray gives San Antonio as the locality for calif ornicus. 

 This was doubtless the old Mission of San Antonio, situated in 

 the valley of the same name in the coast ranges west of Salinas 

 Valley, a few miles south of Santa Lucia Peak and a little north 

 of the present town of Jolon, Monterey County. Lepus richard 

 soni inhabits the same region, the western edge of its distribution 

 joining the eastern edge of that of calif ornicus along a line ex 

 tending parallel to the coast from Jolon to San Luis Obispo. 

 The collection of the Biological Survey contains specimens of 

 richardsoni from Jolon, Paso Robles, and San Luis Obispo, and 

 of calif ornicus from a few miles west of San Luis Obispo. As 

 Douglas states in a letter to Sir Joseph Hooker that he collected 

 in this region and visited the Santa Lucia Mountains in lat. 36, 

 there is every reason to believe that the type specimens of both 

 californicus and richardsoni were collected in the same general 

 neighborhood. 



Lepus tularensis sp. nov. 



Type from Alila (in bottom of San Joaquin Valley), Tulare Co., California. 

 No. 126,334, adult female, U. S. National Museum, Biological Survey Collec 

 tion. October 25, 1900. Luther J. Goldman. 



